I just finished watching episode 3 and I'm sure I'll end up really loving the show. The story seems clichéd but for someone like me who used to watch Asian horror movies obsessively it's hard to come up with original school ghost stories. It looks somewhat like an anime version of the likes of Bunshinsaba and the WhisperingCorridorsfranchise

Rendakor wrote:Come back after episode 5 and let us know if you still think it's a cliché.

I still think it's a cliché.

Spoiler :

It just "changed" from a generic ghost story into a generic cursed place/object story. I've seen a lot of those too. Ofcourse, all of them slightly differ in their own unique ways (sometimes the cursed object is a video tape, sometimes shoes, sometimes a wig, sometimes even a town obsessed with spirals ) but the form (the cursed place/object, what it does and how you survive from the curse or not..) is repeated over and over again. But it's not really the idea of a cursed place, which is the problem. On the contrary, I love Asian horror and all the repetitious ideas in them. What I'm looking for in Asian horror is how they build up the story and the characters around these ideas and how everything is executed stylistically. Another doesn't disappoint me on this one because..

..it's a really stylish show. It's visually very beautiful, carefully paced (slow pacing is a key to good horror, imo) and I'm very pleased with the lack of music. I know there's music sometimes but it's usually very quiet and ambient. A nice touch! I don't feel so drawn to the characters though, at least yet, and I still have 7 episodes to watch. I'm predicting it'll get darker and more plot twists will be introduced. I hope they'll leave some things open because patching up the story with explanations is usually a good way to ruin it. What I'd absolutely loathe is a plot twist, in which...

Spoiler :

...it is revealed that somehow one of the main characters, or even the leading character, was behind it all. Or that the whole class is behind the "accidents". OR the typical "everything was just delusions" kind of revelation. I'm really hoping the story will get properly abstract towards the end rather than relying on a cheap horror cliché like that. Mindfucking supernatural endings are the best

Didn't really expect the broadcast about Mei tbh. The preview from ep10 gave me the impression that all the students would start accusing each other like Teshigawara did with his friend then it would start a bloodbath with all of them. At the moment, the only thing I don't really get is why the inn's owners starting going crazy and cut up the students, that was majorly unexpected, at least for me it was. Then there was the whole mutilated corpse in the dining hall and the fire. I'm also wondering who hurt the student outside the dining hall. Was it the couple? If so why didn't they cleanly kill him off then dispose of him instead of leaving him stabbed and half dead for someone to find? Also, Sakaki had like I dunno, 10 different chances to ask Mei who the real "extra" was so instead of running around, hiding and trying to explain to people they're wrong about Mei, he should have just told them who it was so they'd get off their back. That is, if they'd believe him and Mei's story about her eye. But then this is anime, and like many other shows, logic doesn't quite work all the time. And probably less in dire situations like that where they don't have time to calmly think things over. Although for a viewer, it's quite frustrating. xD

At the very least, despite the mini rant I'm still highly anticipating watching episode 12 this monday.

Didn't really expect the broadcast about Mei tbh. The preview from ep10 gave me the impression that all the students would start accusing each other like Teshigawara did with his friend then it would start a bloodbath with all of them. At the moment, the only thing I don't really get is why the inn's owners starting going crazy and cut up the students, that was majorly unexpected, at least for me it was. Then there was the whole mutilated corpse in the dining hall and the fire. I'm also wondering who hurt the student outside the dining hall. Was it the couple? If so why didn't they cleanly kill him off then dispose of him instead of leaving him stabbed and half dead for someone to find? Also, Sakaki had like I dunno, 10 different chances to ask Mei who the real "extra" was so instead of running around, hiding and trying to explain to people they're wrong about Mei, he should have just told them who it was so they'd get off their back. That is, if they'd believe him and Mei's story about her eye. But then this is anime, and like many other shows, logic doesn't quite work all the time. And probably less in dire situations like that where they don't have time to calmly think things over. Although for a viewer, it's quite frustrating. xD

Spoiler :

Oh noes, one shouldn't bother oneself with such questions. I never pay attention to such things but if I do I like to think, just like you said, that the characters are just panicing too much to think things through rationally And it's true, no? If you're in a mansion full of maniac killers and fucked up supernatural stuff is going on, you don't suddenly withdraw and say to yourself: "Hey, let me just relax for a bit and I'll analyze the situation."

As for my thoughts about the ending - I'm slightly disappointed. I've never seen a good action-ish ending in a horror film. At first the show felt like the ending might be loyal to the style of the show, keeping it stylishly creepy, mysterious and minimalistic, but it turned into a LOLMASSACRE afterall. I hated it in Memento Mori, The Doll Master, Carrie (granted, I haven't seen the original version), and all the others I saw... It's as if all the careful work put into building up tension and mystery is just suddenly flushed down the toilet. But we'll see what happens in the final ep...

the girl in the pigtails (and they almost went that way too by showing the color of death on her!) My friend reminded me of the Reiko/Mikami-sensei thing (I forgot they were the same person, pff) so it wasn't all that surprising when the big reveal happened.Personally I was more interested in the random assailant who murdered her in the first place.

EkaCoralian wrote:Interesting plot twist; I thought for sure it was going to be

Spoiler :

the girl in the pigtails (and they almost went that way too by showing the color of death on her!) My friend reminded me of the Reiko/Mikami-sensei thing (I forgot they were the same person, pff) so it wasn't all that surprising when the big reveal happened.Personally I was more interested in the random assailant who murdered her in the first place.

Yep, the great reveal was worth the wait. It caught me entirely off guard...

Spoiler :

When you look at the two characters, you can clearly see the resemblence. Now it kind of makes sense Reiko had headaches each time Sakakibara tried to talk to her about the incidents.Also, I love the final scene when Kouchi asks if it's over. Misaki just smiles, as if she knows more than she lets on. I have this nagging feeling than Kouchi is dead too and she doesn't want to reveal that because she likes him too much. Second series, anyone?

The ending (the last three episodes or so) disappointed me. But, alas, that often happens with horror.

Spoiler :

I noticed people were talking about some plot twist before I had seen the final episode and frankly I waited for the twist to happen even after the credits rolled... True, I didn't suspect Reiko to be the extra person but I didn't really care who it was in the first place so I wasn't all OMG I DIDNT SEE THAT COMING!

I still think the story should have gone for an abstract mindfucking ending rather than action and gore. So many horror films repeat this same mistake over and over. Stylistically it would have worked so much better to go for something really dark and obscure. Perhaps that's just me.